CFD 3240 Lecture 17: Parenting Styles and Adolescent Development

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Parenting Styles and Adolescent Development
• The most favorable outcomes for adolescents are linked with
○ The authoritative parenting pattern
○ The traditional parenting pattern
• Unfavorable outcomes have been linked with the following parenting styles:
○ Uninvolved, authoritarian, permissive, indulgent and uninvolved
parenting
• Adolescents are also negatively impacted when parents have inconsistent parenting
styles
The Impact of Authoritative Parenting on Adolescents
• Authoritative parents provide their adolescent children an appropriate level of freedom
○ while, simultaneously, requiring them to behave in a responsible manner
• Their adolescent children tend to
○ Be independent, self-assured, creative, achieve in school
○ Have positive relationships with peers and adults (socially skilled)
○ Be more optimistic and have better self-regulation than do adolescents
whose parents are not authoritative
○ Even adolescents with only one authoritative parent have higher levels of
well-being than those with no authoritative parent
The Traditional Parenting Pattern and Its Impact on Adolescents
• This parenting pattern is common throughout the world and in U.S ethnic minority
families
• Authoritative parents style promote independence and traditional parents promote
interdependence
• Adolescents in traditional families generally understand and endorse their parents’
socialization approach
○ Like the authoritative parenting pattern, this pattern is associated with
fewer negative outcomes for children.
○ Both of these patterns combine parental authority with parental support
○ the traditional pattern has higher levels of strictness and support but this
stricter parenting is balanced by greater closeness
Adolescents and Authoritarian Parents
• Those parents are described by adolescents as strict and not very or only somewhat
supportive
• Adolescents whose parents are authoritarian:
○ Are Less self-assured, less creative, and less socially skilled
○ Tend to have lower achievement
○ Are more dependent and more likely to conform to peers
○ Are more at risk for behavior problems such as substance abuse, crime,
and delinquency
• Those adolescents are deprived of opportunities to practice the skills of compromise
and conflict resolution in relationships • The harsh strictness of authoritarian parents causes them to not have as much influence
on their children’s decision-making
○ in comparison to children’s peers
Adolescents and Permissive Parents
• Adolescents, whose parents are permissive lack sufficient direction and guidance to
help them to make mature decisions
○ at a time in their lives that mature decision-making is a crucial aspect of
development
○ when adolescents do not perceive that they can rely on their parents for
guidance, they often look for direction fro